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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876242">Swords and Spotlights</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/circhester/pseuds/htruona'>htruona (circhester)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Apparently Humorous LU One-Shots [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crack, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Humour, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), author did not write dark link as much of a compelling villain, author hopes you enjoy regardless!, author realised this 3000 words in and decided to just embrace the cliche</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:13:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,361</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876242</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/circhester/pseuds/htruona</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“So. We got found out.”</p><p>Vio nodded. “We did.”</p><p>“Huh,” Shadow said, leaning with his back against the wall, in such a position that Vio was—for a moment—concerned for the continuing health of his spine. “I mean, it <em>is</em> Dark Link. Did we really stand a chance?”</p><p>Vio sighed. “Not really, no… Why did you bring me into this, again?”</p><p>—<br/>(or: threats and theatrics, a continuation)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Four (Linked Universe) &amp; Shadow Link, Shadow Link &amp; Vio Link</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Apparently Humorous LU One-Shots [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>320</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Swords and Spotlights</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/UbiquitousSpontaneities/gifts">UbiquitousSpontaneities</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>"i wont continue threats and theatrics," i said. "it's marked complete. no. i'm not writing anything else for it," i said.<br/>i am a clown.</p><p>for those of you who saw my live-write at the beginning of may—first, thank you for being there! and, second, i have changed a few things in this since that live-write. sadly some of the ideas i had down just... did not want to continue themselves. nonetheless i do hope that you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So. We got found out.”</p><p>Vio nodded. “We did.”</p><p>“Huh,” Shadow said, leaning with his back against the wall, in such a position that Vio was—for a moment—concerned for the continuing health of his spine. “I mean, it <em> is </em> Dark Link. Did we really stand a chance?”</p><p>Vio sighed. “Not really, no… Why did you bring me into this, again?”</p><p>Shadow slumped against the wall, and sighed, looking over to Vio forlornly. “I just missed you, bro.”</p><p>Vio’s breath hitched, and although it physically <em> pained </em> him to say back, he would do it—for Shadow. “Bro…”</p>
<hr/><p>Shadow materialised from, well, <em> shadows </em> right in the middle of the Links’ makeshift camp, threw his bags onto the ground, and declared: “Hi, we need help.”</p><p>Vio echoed his declaration, swiftly pulling out two camping chairs from Shadow’s ridiculous-sized bag and unfolding them, before sitting in one, legs crossed—the picture of elegance, in his entirely non-biased opinion. (Most of the elegance was, of course, a front to hide the fact that <em> hey, Dark Link found us out</em>, but Vio wasn’t going to let that slip any time soon.)</p><p>“Um,” Green said—</p><p>“What happened?” Twilight interjected.</p><p>Vio hummed from his camping chair. “Oh, nothing much,” he said, despite the fact that it definitely was <em> something much</em>, “Dark Link figured everything out, and now he wants to murder us both, so we’re here.”</p><p>Silence. </p><p>“We’re sorry…?” Shadow tried.</p><p>Blue winced. “How— How did he find out?”</p><p>Shadow sighed, becoming deathly serious. “It was all— <em> super </em> dramatic, really—”</p>
<hr/><p>“—Hey, Vio,” Shadow hissed beneath his breath. “Do you think that if we sign really rude and horrible things behind Dark’s back, he would be able to see it?”</p><p>“Probably. This is a terrible idea,” Vio said, but, in Shadow’s humble opinion, his words were completely invalid—because Vio himself was showing his middle finger to Dark’s back.</p><p>(Dark could not <em> see </em> the signs, but he could definitely <em> hear </em> them talking about it—which convinced him <em> just </em> enough to subtly turn and see the exact things they were saying...)</p>
<hr/><p>Vio nodded. “Truly, we had no control in the situation. It was very… <em> smaragdine</em>.”</p><p>‘Smaragdine’, as a word, was definitely not one that could be used to describe the situation in <em> any </em> way whatsoever. Its definition was ‘relating to emeralds’. To reiterate: the word had no relation to the situation whatsoever, and if he was honest, he was only saying it so he could keep up whatever shreds of a reputation he had left.</p><p>And besides, nobody except him would know the definition of <em> smaragdine</em>. It wasn’t as if anyone could call him out for it—</p><p>(Vio caught an extremely confused and <em> knowing </em> look from Sky, and winced. Maybe his assumption was less accurate than he had thought.)</p>
<hr/><p>Dark’s footsteps echoed through the corridor as he walked farther and farther away from them.</p><p>“Oh, betraying him is going to be <em> so </em>satisfying,” Vio said, not even bothering to keep his voice quiet.</p><p>Shadow nodded. “I genuinely can’t wait. What an <em> asshole</em>.”</p><p>(Dark had not been <em> nearly </em> as far away as they had suspected, and he had definitely <em> not </em>been out-of-earshot—and, thus, had heard absolutely everything.)</p>
<hr/><p>“I don’t believe that for a <em> second</em>,” Blue said, deadpan. “As if either of you would let yourselves be in a situation where you had no control—”</p><p>“Okay, yeah, you’re right,” Vio said. “We definitely had control over the situation. We just used that control to teleport here instead of to confront him there and then.”</p>
<hr/><p>“So, you want to <em> betray </em> me,” Dark hissed, while a snarl twisted and clawed its way into his skin, wisps of darkness rising in the air—with them, an omen of doom hanging over whoever dared defy—</p><p>Shadow nodded—because, honestly, why deny it? “Yeah, pretty much.”</p><p>“And your loyalties, both of your loyalties, were… never on my side to <em> begin with</em>,” he continued, anger rising in his voice with each gritted word, a certain <em> malevolence </em> shifting—</p><p>Vio hummed, ignoring the general aura of, well, <em> IMMINENT DOOM AND DEATH AND DANGER </em> in the air. “That <em> is </em> the general gist of it, yes.”</p><p>Dark blinked. For a moment, venom stilled in the shock of surprise. “I’m sure that you understand what has to happen now that this truth is revealed—”</p><p>“Yep!” Shadow exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Vio and letting shadows wrap around them both. “Time for us to leave. Toodle-oo!”</p><p>And, with that, they did—indeed—leave.</p>
<hr/><p>“So,” Vio said, “now, he’s coming for us—”</p><p>Approximately eight different people reached for their weapons in an instant.</p><p>“You mean, <em> now</em>?” Wind asked.</p><p>Shadow drew back, horrified. “What? No, no, have you <em> seen </em> the time? The man has his beauty rest every night at 10PM without fail.”</p><p>Vio nodded. “All about routine, Dark Link is… his punctuality is almost enviable.” (Every good villain, and Dark Link was definitely something of a villain, was, of course, punctual—in going to bed early for a whole night’s sleep; in crafting his meticulous and perfect plans; and overall in crafting a terrifying image for himself, because what sort of regular and decent thinking person would create a schedule and <em> never </em> stray from it?)</p><p>Legend frowned. “And you didn’t take advantage of that routine to… I don’t know, murder him in his sleep or something—?”</p><p>“No, that would be <em> dishonourable</em>,” Vio said, then coughed, as if to cover up the fact that he probably had no right to speak of what was and wasn’t <em> honourable</em>. </p><p>Legend paused. “And Shadow...?”</p><p>“I was asleep,” Shadow said, shrugging. At Legend’s incredulous look, he added, “What?! Why would I let that bastard disturb me from my sleep?”</p><p>In the background, Green’s heavy sigh could be heard. Shadow ignored it, because he didn’t need that sort of negativity and disapproval in his life.</p><p>“Oh yeah,” he added then, as an afterthought. “So I think he’ll come to kill us all in maybe, uh, nine hours?”</p><p>“Ten,” Vio corrected absentmindedly. “You know he hates to do anything before 7:30AM.”</p><p>Shadow nodded. “Oh, of course, he needs the half-hour to let his breakfast settle in his stomach… Okay, ten hours. Cool. Everyone okay with that?”</p><p>“We don’t have a choice,” Wind deadpanned. Shadow shrugged, because, well… he was kinda right, wasn’t he?</p><p>Shadow grinned. “Glad to hear we’re all on board.”</p>
<hr/><p>“Okay,” Green whispered, over the fire, at midnight, to his four brothers. “Hear me out—”</p><p>“Same strategy as before?” Blue asked. “Make a performance, completely distract everyone with said performance, and win that way?”</p><p>Red nodded. “I’m in.”</p><p>“Me too,” Vio chimed in.</p><p>Shadow grinned, and the light of the flames seemed to warp and slide away from his skin. “Perfect.”</p><p>They lapsed into silence, because, truthfully, there was little else to say. The best sort of plans for them came about by completely <em> winging it</em>. In other words: the best sort of plans were not, in fact, plans at all—something that had been tried, tested, and proven time and time again.</p><p>It was <em> also </em> something that had been <em> dis</em>proven time and time again when their lack of planning led to disaster. However, since there was nothing pointing to the conclusion ‘planning has a direct correlation to good outcomes’ (the reason for this being ‘they had never actually planned anything effectively ever’), they were going to stick with their original conclusion that <em> not </em> planning stuff <em> worked</em>.</p><p>“But one condition,” Blue said, leaning forward, and there was this <em> grin </em> on his face that promised <em> retaliation </em> if his conditions were not met. “Me and Red get bigger roles this time.”</p><p>Green looked over to Red, and was immediately met with a <em> blinding </em> grin.</p><p>“Alright,” he conceded, wincing as he realised that he and Vio had… probably taken <em> all </em> the attention last time, but set it aside and grinned. “Let’s knock their <em> socks </em> off.”</p><p>Four varying expressions of disgust followed that statement, from Red’s quiet wince and Vio’s subtle distaste to Blue’s outright eye-roll and Shadow’s over-exaggerated mimicry of throwing up.</p><p>“I’ve been dead for a while, but,” Shadow said, “I don’t think anyone says <em> knock their socks off </em> anymore—”</p><p>“—Shut up. Let me have this.”</p>
<hr/><p>It was 7:30AM, and doom was swirling in the air. </p><p>“Good <em> morning </em>, foolish heroes!”</p><p>“Oh,” Vio said quietly, looking down at his watch, “right on ti—”</p><p>Blue rolled his eyes. “I swear to every Goddess there is, you’re <em> not funny</em>, and if you don’t shut up this instant I will—”</p><p>Before Blue had the chance to finish his sentence, Green was between the two of them and forcing them apart. “Please. Stop fighting, for <em> one minute</em>.”</p><p>Shadow, the bastard, just laughed in the background. Blue spared a second to look over Green’s shoulder and glare at him. </p><p>“Blue, go over to Red. You two work well together,” Green instructed. “I’ll stay—”</p><p>“Are you forgetting that you’re planning <em> right in front </em> of Dark Link…?” Blue asked rhetorically. “Because you’re planning right in front of Dark Link.”</p><p>Green looked over to his right, and saw darkness rising and screaming and thrashing with each passing second—beating back the light with such intensity that he could bet that Vio was analysing how exactly such a thing was even possible. </p><p>But Green wasn’t Vio, so he actually bothered to look at the main thing in front of him instead of focusing on the most minor of irrelevant details. (Meanwhile, Blue actually did follow Green’s orders and went over to Red’s position.)</p><p>“So,” Dark Link began, “it has come to my attention that you all have attempted to play me for a <em> fool</em>.”</p><p>Blue resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It hadn’t been an attempt—had Shadow and Vio not been <em> idiots</em>, it would have also <em> succeeded</em>. </p><p>Nobody made the effort to move or say anything. Blue hesitated before saying it—but someone had to ask that question, didn’t they?</p><p>“What do you <em> want</em>?” </p><p>Dark Link rolled his eyes. “I established this <em> last time</em>,” he gritted out, a glimmer of frustration invading his words, “but I’ve added something new, so I suppose I will deign to repeat myself.</p><p>“First: to plunge this world into <em> eternal </em> and <em> damning </em> darkness,” Dark said, and Blue resisted the urge to point out the addition of those two adjectives because, really, the guy needed any chance he got to try and make this monologue even somewhat threatening. “Two: to destroy each and every <em> one </em> of you heroes, and three: to get my hands on that <em> worthless </em> excuse for a shadow and that <em> pretentious </em> purple parrot and rip them to <em> pieces</em>—”</p><p>“Hey,” Red protested. “Vio doesn’t like being called <em> pretentious</em>—”</p><p>Shadow glared at Dark with every last morsel of hatred simmering inside of him. “<em>Worthless excuse for a shadow</em>?! Oh, I’ll show <em> you </em> who’s <em> worthless </em> between us because it <em> definitely </em>isn’t me—”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Dark said, “<em> worthless</em>?”</p><p>Shadow nodded. “I mean what I said! I have more personality than <em> generic evil villain </em> and <em> punctuality </em>.”</p><p>And Dark Link, being the generic punctual evil villain that he was (his creator, some malicious and extremely vague being of darkness, had evidently not put much thought into his character beyond his antagonism) simply… did not react, because his evil-villain-ness told him that continuing such an argument would distract him from his overall goals of <em> plunging this world into eternal and damning darkness</em>, and <em> ripping apart each and every hero ahead of him</em>, and <em> obliterating the worthless excuse of a shadow and the pretentious purple parrot</em>. </p><p>Instead, he lifted his hand—with it, darkness began to rise, and it began to <em> collect </em> in the palm of his hand, condensing until it formed a black steel that divinity could not touch in what was, in Blue’s opinion, an absolutely <em> disgusting </em> way to make a blade because blades are supposed to created in a <em> forge </em> , with the heat of molten steel and the fires of dedication burning the air and showing that the smith <em> cares </em> for his work, that the smith is dedicated to <em> creation </em> and all the work that was necessary to go into it—</p><p>“So he’s going to disrespect our craft like that, huh…” Blue gritted out, dry heat clawing at the pits of his stomach. Next to him, Red subtly took a step away, and his eyes drifted to someone else—longing for what was in their hand. “<em>Unforgivable</em>.”</p><p><em> You sound like Vio, </em> some part of his mind (or maybe even just Shadow in the distance, Blue couldn’t tell) told him.</p><p><em> Shut up,</em> Blue told it.</p><p>Dark smirked, evilly. “And what of it?”</p><p>Blue grinned, let light shine on the steel of the Four Sword, and charged at the darkness ahead.</p><p>On his call, the heroes followed.</p>
<hr/><p>Dark stared down at the thirteen heroes beneath his foot, and in the crimson of his glare, the darkest reflections of their souls <em> shone. </em></p><p>“You foolish, self-righteous, <em> heroes</em>,” Dark said, a biting laughter giving a chilling undertone to the apathy in his voice, “having the gall to parade under the comfort of light, light so bright that it <em> blinds </em> you from the horrors of its truth…</p><p>“And, now, its paragons lie defeated, beneath my foot.”</p><p>Green glared up at him—and in that moment, the most hated parts of <em> himself </em> glared right back. But Green, and by extension Four as a whole, was never one to shy from confrontation; least of all, confrontation with <em> himself</em>.</p><p>“You won’t defeat us,” Warriors, farther away, hissed, the echoes of an army at his back. </p><p>Dark raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” he challenged, pointedly looking at the rest of the group in various states of injury. “How prudent of you to assume you have won merely for the righteousness in your heart… And I do believe, it was said best by one of your <em>own</em>,”—at this, Dark’s eyes snapped to Vio—“the thing about being <em> righteous </em> is that it does not necessarily constitute being <em> right</em>.”</p><p>Vio growled, <em> seething </em> with rage. “Righteous means <em> morally right or justifiable</em>, idiot, <em> yes </em> it is essentially synonymous with <em> being correct</em>!”</p><p>Dark scoffed. “<em>Morals </em> are subjective, and unnecessary in the grand scheme of things—”</p><p>He cut himself off, then, as twelve-and-a-half looks of extreme bewilderment (the <em> half </em> belonging to Shadow, who agreed with the <em> subjective </em> part but not the <em> unnecessary </em> part) were exchanged. </p><p>“In any case,”—Dark raised his hand, and the shadows of the land twisted to rise with it; in their grasp was Legend, struggling against the shadows trapping him—“it is high time that I <em> carried out </em> my plans, and <em> finally </em> work to destroy this world of light that has blinded the darkness so.”</p><p>And in the chaos of it all, Legend’s fire rod fell to the ground, and rolled. </p><p>It rolled, and it rolled, and it rolled, until it reached Red’s position and rather strangely stopped in its tracks.</p><p>Red caught a glimpse of it, grinned, and Blue’s heart <em> stopped</em>.</p><p>Once the rod was in his hands, <em> instinct </em> took over—and Dark was sent away in a tornado of flames.</p><p>This was not the end, of course, but the distraction bought them more than enough time for Wild to grab his Sheikah slate, for Sky and Legend to grab their bags, and for more than enough fairies to be set loose in the air to heal them all.</p><p>And, then, Dark rose. The fight continued anew.</p>
<hr/><p>“Is that Wild’s <em> Sheikah Slate</em>…?!” Green breathed out, looking at the bomb in Vio’s hands with wonder.</p><p>Vio nodded, and threw the bomb. “Yes.” </p><p>“How’d you get it?”</p><p>“I offered to make him a bow that will let him shoot ten arrows at once,” Vio explained. “He seemed quite happy to lend this to me after that.”</p><p>Green blinked. “Why the <em> fuck </em> would you offer to give <em> Wild </em> that kind of bow—”</p><p>Vio shrugged. “Means to an end. It’s <em> Four’s </em> problem once we reform, anyway, so it’s okay.”</p><p>“I… guess—?” </p><p>A wave of cutting darkness flew over their heads, and Green <em> thanked </em> his height for protecting him from the blast. </p><p>“Let’s get back to the fight,” Green said.</p><p>Vio nodded, practically <em> vibrating </em> at the opportunity to test out the attack capabilities of Wild’s runes.</p>
<hr/><p>Shadow was quickly coming to realise that Red armed with a fire rod added with Vio armed with a Sheikah Slate was... a damn sight to <em>see</em>, to put it simply.</p><p>The first reason for this: Red and a fire rod always, inevitably, meant <em>destruction</em>. This was something that Shadow already knew, of course, from... certain incidents from the time of that whole mess with Ganon and Vaati. But seeing first-hand the way the fires seemed to bend to his will, the way they both managed to burn <em>everything </em>in their path and yet be completely controlled to concentrate on the enemy ahead was something else, and Shadow was loving every single <em>second</em>.</p><p>And Vio...</p><p>Someone had given Vio access to technology, and Shadow was going to find out exactly who and <em>thank </em>them. </p><p>"Hey, Shadow!" Vio shouted. Shadow turned, and saw Vio... having literally <em>cut down a tree</em>, the technology-device-thing in his hand, and a ridiculous grin on his face. "Get on. We're going for a ride."</p><p>Shadow grinned, and although he had no idea what was going to happen with this <em>ride</em>, did not hesitate to follow Vio's lead.</p>
<hr/><p>“Psst—!” </p><p>Hyrule turned to Wild, not-subtly perched in a tree, clutching what remained of his bow. “If you want a bow, I don’t have a spare one,” he said simply.</p><p>Wild rolled his eyes. “I don’t need a bow. I mean, look at this,”—Hyrule let his eyes drift across the battlefield, where fires raged and attacks flew—“do you think I can even aim here?”</p><p>Hyrule hoisted himself up into the tree, deciding that it was much better of a place than the ground, nodding at Wild as he climbed. </p><p>Wild sighed. “Okay. Yeah, I could. But hear me out,”—Hyrule grinned, interested—“how about… We just <em>go</em>. Leave this fight, and explore this place.”</p><p>“In the middle of a fight…?” Hyrule asked.</p><p>Wild shrugged. “The colours will be fine. And, besides, I already saw Time and Twilight leave to... fish, or something, earlier. And think of all the stuff we could <em> explore</em>—”</p><p>Hyrule hopped down from the tree, dragging Wild with him. “I’m convinced,” he said simply.</p><p>Wild grinned. “Lead the way then, traveller.”</p>
<hr/><p>“You two are…” Warriors said, frowning at Twilight and Time. “Fishing?”</p><p>Time nodded. “It’s bonding,” he pointed out, drily. </p><p>“...While Dark Link is over there?” Sky asked.</p><p>Twilight frowned at them. “You’re not in the fight either. You can’t use that against us.”</p><p>Warriors and Sky exchanged looks, before sitting down next to them and deciding to ignore the explosions raging in the distance. The colours had it handled. They’d be fine.</p>
<hr/><p>A… <em> lot </em> of time had passed since the fight had initially kicked off (or, at the very least, it <em> felt </em> like a lot of time), and Blue was… honestly, pretty damn tired of it all.</p><p>There was fire. There were flames, and violence, and chaos. Vio and Green were trying to out-do each other every two seconds, Red was having <em> far </em> too much fun with Legend’s fire rod, and Shadow was…</p><p>Perhaps it was best not to try and explain Shadow’s actions.</p><p>Adding onto this, the rest of the group had mysteriously disappeared (and, judging by Dark’s evident notice of this fact, it was not his doing) and now they were just left with a whirlwind of fire and flame and <em> theatricality </em> that was fun until you were involved for several hours straight and were just left <em> tired</em>.</p><p>And, honestly, it was all a little… <em> too </em> chaotic for Blue. Nope, he was just going to silently <em> slide </em> away from the fight. That Dark Link fucker didn’t stand a chance anymore with the rest of his brothers, really, so would it <em> really </em> harm the fight too much if he selfishly made his leave?</p><p>Red waved the fire rod once again, and its flames did nothing but exaggerate the curve of the grin on his face.</p><p>“Nope,” Blue whispered quietly, to nobody but himself, “there’s only so much chaos I can take.”</p><p>...Maybe he’d go bake, or something. Yeah. He’d find his way into Wild’s endless supply of baking supplies and just… bake away until the sun had set. That sounded nice.</p><p>And, with that thought clear in mind, he turned on his heel and made an exit. Behind him, the fight continued.</p>
<hr/><p>“Where is Blue?” Vio asked.</p><p>Green shrugged, swiftly sidestepping another blast of dark magic. “Planning something, probably?” </p><p>“...Maybe we should have done that earlier,” Vio admitted.</p><p>“Definitely.” An explosion sounded to their right, and Green did not want to know whether its cause was <em> Dark </em> or <em> Red</em>—</p><p>“—<em>Green</em>!”</p><p>Green’s vision snapped to Red, quickly following his direction to Dark; and saw Dark kneeling on the ground, weak and obviously far too dazed from that final explosion to carry on.</p><p>No more words needed to be said. Green pulled out his bow, light arrow ready to be drawn, and at his side were Red, Vio, and Shadow; uniting to take him <em> down</em>—</p><p>“You <em> wouldn’t</em>,” Dark hissed, malice emanating from his skin in <em> waves</em>.</p><p>Green narrowed his eyes, drawing the light arrow. In that moment, the world stilled: the wind blew quietly one last time, before slowing to a halt; the string against his fingertips, the bow’s grip in his hand, and the target in front of him were his singular focus; and he breathed in, breathed out, <em> one, two, thr</em>—</p><p>Dark Link’s eyes rolled back, and steadily—as much as it felt as if the moment lasted an eternity—he fell to the ground, lifeless. </p><p>Above him stood Legend, a <em> massive </em> hammer in hand, and a vicious grin on his face. Curiously, his tunic-skirt-pinafore-thing was sporting some embroidery that nobody could quite remember seeing before. “That’s right, asshole,” he gritted out, slinging the hammer onto his back. “<em>Your </em> turn to be taken by surprise.”</p><p>Vio blinked. “What,” he said, dumbfounded. </p><p>Legend looked up and—in an instant—changed his facial expression from one of <em> ruthless and merciless satisfaction </em> to one of pleasant surprise and approval. “Oh, thanks for that distraction,” he said.</p><p>“Um,” Green said. “That— Uh, no problem— Wait, no— <em> What</em>?”</p><p>“The <em> distraction</em>,” Warriors echoed, strolling in to restrain Dark’s arms and legs so that the guy would be unable to attack them any further upon awakening. “So that we could prepare to attack him while he wasn’t expecting it?”</p><p>“I—” Red said, immediately adopting the single-most <em> offended </em> look on his face that anyone had ever seen. “But that wasn’t what we were <em> doing</em>...”</p><p>A wave of guilt swirled in Legend’s stomach, much akin to that one would feel upon hurting something so <em> pure </em> and <em> kind </em> as Red, but he was quick to squash it down because <em> no</em>, he <em> didn’t </em>care, actually.</p><p>Vio peered at the new additions to Legend’s tunic. “And the embroidery…?”</p><p>Legend shrugged. “You had it all handled, and we had some spare time, so…”</p><p>“You… went away and did <em> embroidery </em> while we were here. Fighting <em> Dark Link </em>,” Green deadpanned. </p><p>Legend frowned, because <em> yes </em> , that was <em> exactly </em> what he had done. As he had just said. In very plain terms. </p><p>“Didn’t you see all of us disappear during the fight?” Warriors asked. “Legend embroidered his tunic. Wild and Hyrule are Goddess-knows where right now, they disappeared into that forest a few hours ago and haven’t been seen since, Blue baked us all cookies—”</p><p>“—Very nice ones,” Legend interjected, “chocolate chip—”</p><p>“—and I’m <em> pretty sure </em> I saw Twilight writing poetry—”</p><p>“As if you have <em> any </em> room to talk,” Legend interjected, rolling his eyes and giving Warriors a knowing look. “Weren’t you reading, oh, <em> what </em> was the series name again—?”</p><p>Warriors flushed <em> bright red </em> and was <em> strangely </em> quick to hide himself from scrutiny. “So, uh, we beat Dark Link, huh?”</p><p>Green winced, thinking of all the ways that—if he were Blue—he would be cursing out the two in front of him right now, but deciding to swallow his bitterness and just accept that they had absolutely been played for fools. “...Yeah,” he said, after some hesitation. “We sure did.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>bonus i:</strong>
</p><p>“...Huh,” Blue said. “You’re all here, too…?”</p><p>Time nodded, not looking up from his book. “We figure that you boys’ve got this handled. Nothing for us to worry ourselves over, really.”</p><p>Blue frowned. “And if something goes wrong…?”</p><p>Time waved a hand, still reading that book. “The captain's keeping half an eye on everything. He’ll step in if something goes wrong.”</p><p>Blue’s eyes trailed over the makeshift gathering. Several members of the group were nowhere to be seen, but notably, Wind was making notes <em> all over </em> a drawn map (and <em> damn </em> did Blue hate how he did that, but he wouldn’t point it out because it really wasn’t his business) and Legend was... literally embroidering. Warriors, however... was openly and <em> ugly </em> crying over some book that he was reading, much to Legend’s evident distaste judging from the dirty looks he kept sending. </p><p>In the distance, an explosion tore through the air. </p><p>“You’re sure about this,” Blue asked. He, for one, wasn’t.</p><p>Time shrugged. “There’s absolutely nothing to worry about.”</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>bonus ii: </strong>
</p><p>“You’re back,” Twilight breathed out. Four blinked through that strange process of four sets of memories combining themselves into a single train of thought, and nodded. “Goddess, I missed you. The others were, ah…”</p><p>Four winced. “Sorry about them,” he said. “When I split, I lose a lot of… <em>self-control</em>.”</p><p>Twilight stared at him as if he had just said the sky was blue; in other words, telling Four that what he had just said was completely obvious. </p><p>“What’s… happening with Shadow?” Twilight asked. “Is he still—”</p><p>“<em>Yes</em>, I’m <em> still here</em>,” Shadow said, appearing from Twilight’s… shadow. Strangely, Twilight seemed unfazed. Shadow looked at Four, and his expression softened in what felt something like <em> brotherhood </em> . “I’m not leaving. Just <em> try </em> and get rid of me, assholes—!”</p><p>"We won't," Four said, and smiled. "Glad to have you back. Properly."</p><p>Shadow smiled, much more softly than any sort of chaotic grin that often made itself home on his face. "You too."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>green, red, vio and shadow, trying their hardest to take this evil plague on the world down:<br/>everyone else saying “lmaoooooo peace out”:</p><p> </p><p>djeidhjeheuwb AGAIN HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIA! ILYSM MWAH IM SORRY I POSTED THIS SEVERAL WEEKS AFTER YOUR BIRTHDAY</p><p>and a final note: this has <em>nothing</em> to do with this fic whatsoever, but here's a funky fic recommendation for you if you want some funny and wholesome goodness involving the boys: <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22226596">let the not-quite-dead-yet reader society commence</a>! it's a wonderful fic by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/schrodingers__cat/pseuds/schrodingers__cat">schrodingers__cat</a>, and one that i've gone back to so many times and has brightened up my day so many times... go drop this fic some love, would you? &lt;3</p><p><a href="https://fushigidane.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a>!!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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